SHERRARD, Ill — Each year News 8 receives nominations from students throughout eastern Iowa and western Illinois who want to recognize "My Favorite Teacher." We feature five outstanding educators each year.
Very seldom will you see a teacher like Candice Gagliardo receiving an award for teaching English one minute and hearing this confession the next.
"I despise English," Kyla Elsbury said to Ms. Gagliardo in front of a classroom full of high school students. "Ever since I was younger, it was my least favorite class."
But that's just the start of our story. What brought Kyla to that classroom was another confession.
"You're my favorite teacher, Ms. Gagliardo," she said.
It's the power of Ms. Gagliardo's English classes at Sherrard High School. Especially for Kyla.
"I've had a lot of resentment toward English in the past and this year with it actually being fun and I've really enjoyed it and she's been a huge, key role in that," Kyla said.
Teachers know that some students may not like the subjects they teach. After all, they were once students themselves.
"That's one of the biggest complaints about students who don't enjoy something is 'Why do we have to do this? We're never going to use it'.'"
"This is a difficult career, a difficult profession and I come every day because of them," Gagliardo said of her students. "And to hear that it's working is incredibly encouraging and inspiring."
But it's Kyla who has been inspired.
"I'm 100% sure I wouldn't have had this great of an experience with anyone else," Kyla said.
'Mrs. G' said her 15 years at Sherrard High School have taught her that the more relevant her English class is to her students, the more they'll get from their education.
"Tenth and 11th graders are right there in the middle," Gagliardo said. "They know enough and they are amazing, intelligent, super cool people who have ideas and thoughts and they're still here in the middle of it."
It's helped change the way some of these students think about English class.
"Most of her students, you go and talk with them, and they have nothing but great things to say about her," Kyla said. "Just because of how much she cares about every single one of them personally and academically."
And she wants to make sure that continues as society and the way we communicate through social media and our writings changes
"Competing with all of that is certainly challenging, but I really think that relationships are at the heart of it, knowing what they're thinking and feeling and connecting to them to the skills I know they need to work on to be successful in their future is just kind of where I keep my focus," Gagliardo said.